2011 in Pictures

Seven Years

It's hard to imagine that we got married seven years ago - it really hasn't felt like seven years has gone by and this last year flew by super quick!  Lots of newness in our latest year in marriage and we're enjoying the blessings and challenges that those newities bring to our lives.

We were able to celebrate out anniversary with dinner out BY OURSELVES! Our neighbors graciously offered to watch both of the kids last Friday.   We had already resigned ourselves that we'd be having an anniversary with our two little ones, but we ran into the neighbors on Friday and told them of our weekend plans and they offered!   What a blessing!   

We spent most of our Sunday relaxing and spending time with the family.  The boys went shopping and brought me home a rose and a card.    Nap times went according to plan and we had plenty of time to get ready!  I straightened my hair for the first time since moving to Mississippi (nearly 4 months ago.) 

Loving Husband had spend the previous evening talking Ace up and getting him understanding of the concept of babysitting and how he gets to go play with his friend (the neighbors have a two year old boy) and so he was eager to get over there to play with his friend.   We dropped them off around 4:20, handed Mae off with zero issue and we were off! The first time alone since dropping Ace off at Gran and Pop Pop's the night before my induction!

It was nice to be able to go out just the two of us.  Talk about politics, economy, anything that didn't involve children or interruption BY them.    Dinner was at Ruth Chris Steak House and was delicious.  The cheesecake for dessert was AMAZING.   We promised we'd be home by 6:30 and so our time was limited but still appreciated and nice.  

We headed home after dessert and brought the neighbors a cheesecake as a thank you.   We received great reports that the kids did great!  Mae was a happy girl and simply wanted to be walked around a lot, but otherwise everyone was as happy as can be.  

It was a great anniversary and so thankful for our neighbors and allowing us an evening alone for the first time in nearly 7+ months!    Happy Anniversary, my love!

Happy Anniversary



Our wedding day... seven years ago!

 Happy Anniversary, my love.  Two kids, a cross country move, and to many adventures to come, I enjoy traveling this road with you.   All my love!

2010 in Pictures

Sixth Anniversary

It's crazy to think that six years have past since our wedding. Lots of adventures and changes have happened in our lives. Last year for our fifth anniversary we had a little one that wasn't really travel ready, and wasn't really over-night ready, but we were able to go to dinner last year. This year though our little guy was old enough to travel and have a good time out and about - and while we were treating this more as a 'babymoon' than an 'anniversary' trip - it worked out great to be able to celebrate our anniversary in paradise. Thanks again to my mom to coming with us to watch Ace off and on during our vacation adventure, but especially on the night of our anniversary.

Loving Husband and I went to dinner at the Four Seasons Resort at a ocean front restaurant. The weather was perfect. The extreme winds that had been happening earlier in the afternoon had up and disappeared making the weather perfect to sit outside and enjoy the sunset. The food was delicious and then company was perfect. We had a great evening relaxing and enjoy our dinner as the sunset. It was beautiful.

Happy 6th Anniversary!

To my beloved, Loving Husband. It doesn't seem long enough that six years has past since we got married - but I guess with travel, 1.5 kids, a house, and lots of loan debt, we've accomplished a lot in those six years. :) I love you and am so blessed to be with you! - Love, Ladyface

2009 in Pictures

* Click the image to enlarge it.

Happy Anniversary

My Love,

It has been a wonderful journey over the last five years. In some ways it seems like yesterday, and in others ... well you know. ;-) You have made the last five years adventurous, exciting and memorable and I wouldn't want to travel through this life without you. You are a very caring and loving husband and father. Your love for your son and me is more than I could ever hope for. I love you. Here's to the first five and many more to come.

Love,

Your Wife

Year Four

Our fourth year can be summed up in two main events: pregnancy and house-buying. Those were the big check boxes that our team decided to tackle for our fourth year of marriage. Year three was out of country travel ;-) Year four we had to kick it up a notch and buying a house and getting pregnant seemed like good things to accomplish in year four of our union.

Our fourth year was started out pretty status quo, my work situation was becoming increasingly ridiculous and a change was on the horizon there "any day" every day. I eventually quit less than a week after we closed on our house. After finding out we were pregnant, I chose to start my SAHM duties early and kept myself busy at home.

For several weeks prior to quiting, our lives were consumed with house hunting, paperwork, inspections and all the good festive headaches that come with buying a home. Then they were quickly transitioned into the appliance, carpet, paint buying and decision making mode. Then we moved in. :) The first thing we did when we moved in was put up the Christmas tree. It was past Thanksgiving and I was dying. I always ALWAYS put up the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving - and to have to wait an extra 5+ days was torture for me. We had no furniture in the house, but we had a tree :) We moved in officially a week later. And a few days after that we confirmed that I was pregnant.

We spent Christmas proper in So-Cal with my family and it was a delightful time. Especially announcing to everyone that we were going to have a baby in August 2008! It was an exciting, yet nauseous time for us me. Well he was excited - but not so nauseous. 2008 was riddled with doctor's appointments and many firsts. First heartbeats, first movements, the ever expanding baby belly. Loving Husband was ever so attentive during my pregnancy and took wonderful care of me and our son.

We wrapped up our fourth year by celebrating early in case Ace came at one of our favorite places to celebrate our anniversary - the lodge by the falls. It was an enjoyable and relaxing time for us. It was our final anniversary as just the two of us. We were weeks away from embarking on a challenging and most rewarding endeavor: raising our son!

Year Three

Our third year of marriage was actually the first year that we spent the entire year together! We ease into things ;-) just kidding. Our third year of marriage was a wonderful one it included our trip to Roma. It was wonderful, but I'm getting ahead of myself as that was near the end of our third year together.

Year three started out with me getting a job at law firm, which for a while was a wonderful job. I was happy to be working again. We hosted Christmas at our home for both our families, everyone but my brother and his wife were able to come. It was a full house, but such a great time.

We moved in January of that year again to a different rental, a smaller place - but we fit comfortably and the cats adjusted to their smaller indoor haven. We were both really busy with work and studying for much of the first part of 2007, but after that season passed we enjoyed some fun. During work in the winter of 2007 I studied and took the bar exam again. Working in the law firm 40+ hours a week and studying was pretty grueling but it was effective as I passed the bar exam. I was sworn in at a private ceremony hosted by my bosses, it was a really special event - that I still appreciate to this day. My mom and Dawn were able to fly out and be there and of course Loving Husband was there!

The summer was wonderful as we spent it in Roma (ok we were only there for 10 days)! It was our first time in Italy and I fell in love. It was a wonderful trip to spend just the two of us. We took a trip with a group of friends to the beach shortly after returning from Roma and spent the weekend there. It was a lot of fun. We celebrated our third anniversary by seeing a dinner show Teatro Zinzanni and it was awesome! It was a wonderful way to celebrate our third year together.

Year Two

Our second year of marriage started back in Southern California after a nice anniversary in the NW. I surprised my husband with a trip to the local mountains I grew up near, as he had never been there. I found a cute little bed and breakfast and reserved the "presidential suite" for the weekend. We celebrated his birthday and enjoyed another nice weekend away after spending several weeks apart.

I started teaching at That College in August and became the director of Forensics and Loving Husband was very helpful assisting with the debate team.

Our second year of marriage was a hard year for me in general, I lost both my grandpa and my dad within two months of each other. LH was my rock during that and was very helpful and loving through that.

At the end of 2005 Loving Husband received a job offer in the NW, however I was under contract at That College through the end of May. So my husband and I prepared and began a six month separation while he began his job in the NW and I wrapped up our lives in California. We saw each other about once a month and talked every day. While a challenge it was good. I moved to the NW in June.

For the first time in... forever I didn't have anything to do. My job at That College was done for the summer. I was planning to teach some online courses for them, but that didn't begin until August and so I found myself alone in a new state with only my husband and our two kitties. I slowly made friends and sorta (not really) studied for the bar exam again.

It was so nice to be in the same house again and to enjoy the beautiful summers that exist here in the northwest. We were reunited with our kitties and enjoyed spending time as a family together. We celebrated our second anniversary at the Space Needle for dinner. It was wonderful, we walked around the area before dinner and Loving Husband won me a prize at the carnival :) It was a nice way to celebrate another challenging by wonderful year together.

Year One

Our wedding day was beautiful. The weather was perfect, the ceremony was late enough that no one felt rushed, and my wedding started on time (that was my only brideism that I was a bit crazy about) we had a beautiful and simple ceremony, not too long. Be Thou My Vision played during the signing of the marriage license and we were surrounded by candlelight. The reception was very nice and I ate my entire dinner (some brides forget to eat, I wanted my filet - I was going to eat) we cut the cake and tossed some things and headed off for our honeymoon.

Our honeymoon was a surprise to me. Loving Husband had kept it a secret. In part our honeymoon was a several week extravaganza because one of LH's friends got married the Saturday after ours - so we had a mini honeymoon in the NW and then our real honeymoon in Jamaica! The entire time was wonderful to relax and just spend time with my new husband. I loved the warm waters of Jamaica and the resort was wonderful.

We came back to reality and my third year of law school and work at the law firm. LH went back to work. We enjoyed our first halloween as a married couple going as a bride (I wore my runaway dress) and he came as my ball and chain -- wearing a ball and chains. We enjoyed Thanskgiving in Southern California with both our our families. His parent's came down and we all went to my grandma's. It was a nice time. Our first Christmas together we began our tradition of exchanging stockings.

I graduated from law school in May and moved to the NW for three months to study for the bar exam and to live with his parents. We knew that we were moving to the NW in the near future, although at the time the date wasn't set, but I had to take A bar exam. During that time we acquired a kitty (Tort) by the end of the summer we adopted his brother (Nick) who orignally was LH's mom's cat... they couldn't be seperated. They had to stay in the NW though for a while until we moved back to the NW. At the end of July, after the exam, Loving Husband came to join me and we celebrated our first anniversary at the same spot we had enjoyed phase one of our honeymoon - at the lodge!

Summer Favorites - Our Anniversary

This year we are celebrating our 5th anniversary! It's hard to imagine that 5 years has gone by when I said "I do" to the love of my life. We have enjoyed many celebrations of our anniversary. This next week leading up to our anniversary, I will have a post on each of our five years together.

The below picture is one of my favorites from our wedding day. Mostly because my husband is whispering to me that he hates pictures, but loves me. So my smile in this one is very real.

Happy Anniversary

My brother and his wife were married five years ago today. And according to them "they haven't killed each other yet!" so congratulations you guys. We cannot wait for Ace's cousin Kaylee to join us on the outside later this summer!